Soul Meets Body
by Violet Eliot
Summary: Quil and Claire one shot. It's fourteen years after Quil laid eyes on Claire and he feels more strongly for her than he's ever felt before, but now a different feeling is present. An exerpt of an evening with Quil and Claire at First Beach.


**A/N: A short exerpt about Claire and Quil's relationship in future years, which is not at all developed in the Twilight series and definitely needs some attention. So here's a Claire/Quil fic just for you!**

**Inspired by the song "Soul Meets Body" by Death Cab for Cutie.**

**Enjoy...**

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Quil sighed in a mixture of awe and admiration as she snuggled into his broad, warm chest. Claire was as content as she would ever be as she lay in the arms of her one and only protector. She only ever felt safe with him and he only lived to protect her, to always watch over her. Although Claire had no grasp on the concept of exactly how much Quil needed her.

The fire crackled in front of them making the sand turn an unnatural shade of orange, making Claire's lovely bone structure even more magnified, reflecting a glow off her smooth, olive skin. Quil leaned back against a piece of driftwood with Claire's delicate head resting in his large, protective arms. The sound of the waves crashing on the beach was a comforting sound. Like they had forever to lie on the beach with each other, forgetting about the rest of the world, the rest of the universe. He gently ran his fingers through her light brown hair causing her to sigh in contentment. She moved her head ever so slightly so that she was gazing up at him. Quil studied her face like an astronomer discovering an unknown, breathtaking, faraway galaxy – he savoured the moment as if it was worth more than his own life.

He started at the bottom of her face noticing her only flaw – the dimple in the middle of her chin. He slowly moved his eyes towards her small, button nose. He let his eyes linger along this section of her face, observing her pretty cheekbones and her ears with small gold hoops sitting in her earlobes. Finally his gaze arrived at the most amazing feature of her entire body, her eyes. They were a warm, light shade of brown in the dark and turned an exotic hazel in the sun, but they were the most amazing pair of eyes that had ever locked with his gaze. Her eyes were what captured his attention, his reason for waking up every day. Combined with the rest of her and she was his own form of gravity. If Claire didn't exist Quil swore his body would be floating in space somewhere right now. Either that or he would live a long and dull existence. He wanted to be alive while he lived. He wanted to go where soul meets body – that was where ever Claire was.

"Quil?" Claire's high voice trilled his name sounding like music to his ears. Claire was blissfully unaware of the complicated theorems washing over Quil's mind at that moment.

Although she was still unaware of the concept of imprinting she knew that he couldn't bear to live one day without laying his eyes on her. The only thing she couldn't figure out was why he chose her to be with. She knew plenty of girls who were prettier, smarter and older than her, yet Quil chose to spend everyday with her. She was clueless but she didn't care. Ignorance was bliss. She loved spending time with Quil, her best friend but somewhat more. He had stuck by her through all her life from the time she was two. It had been fourteen years since he had laid his eyes on her and it felt like no time had past at all. She had spent fourteen years with him and still wanted him, and now craved him. She wondered why she felt feelings this strongly towards him. Quil had acted as an older brother towards her, oddly never appearing to age as he grew older in years, in the past but now that Claire was growing older she started seeing him differently. All of a sudden his arms around her didn't feel brotherly; it felt intimate.

"What is it Claire-bear?" Quil asked her innocently using the gentlest voice humanely possible. Although maybe human was the wrong word used to describe himself. He wasn't entirely human. A part of him was more closely resemble to a canine than to a human – a wolf to be exact.

Claire shuffled herself so that she had wrapped her arm around Quil's waist, his arm stretched over Claire's shoulder holding her closer to him. "Why me?" she replied with a sigh.

"What do you mean, sweetie?" Quil started stroking the top of her arm.

"I mean why did you choose me?" Claire's baby-like face turned into a puzzled expression. "You spend everyday with me telling me I'm special and you love me in a way, but why? You never tell me why."

"Claire, I've told you why. You _are _special. That's why."

"But why me? Why isn't Leah Clearwater special like me? She's way prettier than me. She's smart and closer to your age than I am. Why do you spend so much time with boring, old me?"

Quil choked a laugh. "Claire, Leah is a pain to hang around." Quil felt bad for saying this since Leah had become slightly more tolerable after the move from Sam to Jacob's pack. But she still carried that chip on her shoulder a little, even after fourteen years. "Besides, you're my… my best friend Claire. You have always been my number one best friend and always will be."

"But whyyy?" Claire whined. Claire knew that if she used her baby voice combined with her pouty face Quil would do or giver her anything she wanted. To top of the act she crossed her arms over her chest and stared expectantly at him. "Tell me! Pu-leeeeeaze?"

Quil laughed and sighed. "Damn it Claire-bear, you're just too adorable."

She grinned in victory. "I know."

"Okay," Quil turned his body around so that he was facing Claire.

All of a sudden he had forgotten what he was going to say. He had forgotten his name. He had forgotten how to breathe. All he could remember was Claire and how beautiful she was at that moment and would be forever, how much older she looked at that moment and how surprisingly non-innocent she looked. He also couldn't help noticing how low cut her shirt seemed at that moment. But he didn't have a chance to think much about anything else but her enchanting eyes.

Claire realised how he was looking at her. It was the same look that she saw Sam give her aunt, Emily. His raised eyebrows and hypnotised expression sang something other than friendship, something much more. Something more powerful than friendship, family and love. But how could anything be more powerful than love? What ever it was, this was it. It shone out of Quil's eyes like rays from the sun.

Slowly and cautiously as ever, Quil shifted his body so he was closer to Claire than before. Claire moved her small body so that her head entered his personal space at a way that could not be misinterpreted. She was a war of head versus heart – it was obvious which had conquered. It made no sense for her to feel this way, in logic it was sick, deranged, totally bizarre. Yet she did and her actions ruled her.

Quil craned his neck so his face moved closer to hers. Her lips were an inch away from his and she wasn't going back. This was what she wanted, she felt like in one swift movement everything would fall perfectly into place and make sense. She plucked up the courage and made the first move at the exact same time Quil did.

Their lips met and they were truly connected. It was Claire's first kiss and it might has well have been Quil's because no other kiss he had experienced was quite as painstakingly perfect as hers. Quil kissed her small, warm lips back in a slightly uneven pattern that neither of them cared about. His lips moving slowly and carefully against hers was truly the most amazing thing Claire had ever felt in her life. It was sweet, pure and true – like a first perfect kiss should be.

Claire moved her face slowly away from his and eventually opened her eyes to face Quil's love stoned expression, to feel his hot breath, his panting against her face.

"That's why," he told her. "I didn't love you this way before, but now I do. Nothing I try to explain to you will make sense. But please believe me when I say this …" he paused and pressed his lips up against her ear. A trickle of excitement ran down Claire's spine. "I love you, Claire. More than my own life and I always will."

Claire was stuck for words. "I don't understand."

"You will soon, Claire," Quil reassured her. "But just answer me this, do you believe me?"

Claire's eyes were locked with Quil's honest, adoring stare. She knew he was right. "Yes, Quil." Then she spoke more loudly with a giggle, "Yes! I believe you!"

Claire flung her arms around Quil in a comforting bear hug. Quil could have never been happier in his life than at that moment. "One more thing…" he began.

Claire settled in his broad, comforting arms once again. "Yeah?" she asked dreamily.

"Do you?"

Claire knew what he meant. She knew the answer too. She had no idea why this was her answer, but she knew indefinitely that it was and always would be. No logic, just a strong, unstoppable feeling.

"Yes," she finally replied accompanied by a shy smile.

Quil kissed the top of her head. "I was really hoping that would be your answer – using an endless amount of really's." He smiled.

Claire had no idea why she felt this way and why Quil felt so strongly for her in return. She started to sift through realistic ideas like she was betrothed to him, but that wouldn't explain why they felt so powerfully for each other. She couldn't think of any thing that would make sense in reality. Quil knew everything and he _would_ tell her, in time. She could be patient; she would be patient for him.

As she gazed out towards the blackness of the ocean, the warm, comforting arms of her Quil wrapped around her she came to a weird and wonderful conclusion.

It must have been something magical.

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**What did you think?**


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